The following morning, Tang Shaoyang and his people were standing in front of the portal. The third portal appeared less than a minute ago, he looked at the top of the third portal that showed the time limit.
[15 Days 23:59:22]
Two weeks and two days, the time limit did not match with the manual. The manual told them that they had to clear the portal in seven days. Now the time limit was doubled, making the portal look more suspicious than before.
'As we continue, the portal will become more dangerous for sure but doubling the time limit, does that mean the difficulty also doubles?' Tang Shaoyang thought to himself while hesitating to enter the portal. He was considering that people with no class should not enter the portal or else they would be a burden for the team if the difficulty was doubled.
Tang Shaoyang was not the only one concerned about the change of the time limit but the others as well. Zhang Mengyao was thinking hard about the issues as well, the possibility of why the time limit was doubled.
"Maybe… Maybe because we finished the first and second portal faster than the time limit," Wei Xi shared his thoughts with the others. He had calculated how much time they finished the first portal and the second portal.
They finished the first portal in less than a day while it took them four days to finish the second portal. If he combined, they took five days to finish the first two portals, meaning the plus time which was nine days in total was added to the time limit. He explained his discoveries to Tang Shaoyang and the others.
"That's most likely what happened," Zhang Mengyao immediately agreed to the conjecture, "But the possibility of the difficulty is doubled also there," since it was a conjecture with no foolproof, they could not put the other possibilities aside.
"It's up to you to decide," Zhang Mengyao left the final decision to her man since he was the head of the group. If he ordered all of them to enter the portal, they would enter.
"I am more inclined toward Wei Xi's conjecture," Tang Shaoyang voiced his thoughts, "Let's enter the portal together, the reward is too big for them to not participate in the battle,"
No one disagreed with the idea, there were always pros and cons at the decision he took. If everyone entered the portal, there was a high risk for them to die if the difficulty doubled. While if he chose the strong one to enter with him would grant his people safety. Tang Shaoyang chose the former and everyone followed his decision.
"Ummmm…" Tang Shaoyang turned toward Mu Liqiu, he was contemplating how to call her, "Mother, you can stay if you…", before he finished his words, the vigorous old lady cut him off, " No! I will enter the portal with you guys!" A resolute and strong reply came from the old lady. Despite her age, she looked energetic and nimble as she made a small movement to show him that she was strong enough to protect herself from danger.
After experiencing the level up and distributing her attribute points into the stat, the old lady was eager to kill the monster. She had grown old but she was still wishing to be healthy, now that chance was in front of her.
"It's okay, I will assist her," Kang Xue assured her man to let her mother join the rank as well. Tang Shaoyang almost rolled his eyes and teased her that she was in fact in the category to be left behind if he decided to take the second option.
"Very well, follow me!" He nodded his head and looked toward Wei Xi, "We will enter the portal with the usual formation," he instructed Wei Xi before he turned toward Kang Zian, "You will join my team!"
After the incident befell the man, his parents insisted the man stay with their group. The feeling of almost losing their son was too shocking and unbearable. Not he did not believe in Yan Sheng's capability to protect his brother-in-law, but the risk that the portal's difficulty doubled was concerning him. He did not want to lose a capable subordinate only to protect a trouble maker.
Kang Zian was about to reject the notion of joining the main team, but Tang Shaoyang's cold voice forced him to swallow the words back, "This is an order!"
The preparation was over, Tang Shaoyang then led the first group to enter the portal. As soon as he stepped into the portal, a cool breeze blew his hair and cheek. The cool sensation was so refreshing and added with the succulent aroma that entered his nose, Tang Shaoyang let out a relaxing breath.
In the next few seconds, the blurred scenery became clear to the eyes as he adapted to the surroundings. Once again, he was teleported to the forest, but this place was the best forest. The lush grass, the blooming flowers, and the bright trees gave off a comfortable sensation. An urge to make a house and settle in this place aroused inside, but he was too sober to do that.
It was as if the others shared the same feeling as him, they longingly gazed at the surroundings. Alas, it did not last long as the ring of a notification resounded in their head, accompanied by a translucent screen appearing in their eyes.
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[Portal 3 - Clarity Forest]
Main Objective: Kill The Guardian of Forest
Side Objective: Kill Any Five Kings of Clarity Forest
Individual Objective: 1. Kill 100 Stage-1 Beast/Monster 2.Kill 50 Stage-2 Beast/Monster 3. Kill 20 Stage-3 Beast/Monster
Time Limit: 15 days 23:57:02
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Reading the objectives carefully, Tang Shaoyang wondered if the difficulty was doubled or not. To him, the individual objective was an easy hunt. It had been proved that the Orc General, Stage-3 Orc posed no threat to him as he slew them with ease.
After marking the objective in his head, Tang Shaoyang turned around. He looked at the back of his team member, waiting for his other subordinates to arrive. He thought it would be the same as the second portal where they would be teleported into one place so he was waiting for them to come.
A full minute passed, but there was no sign that his other subordinates would arrive soon. He concluded that portal three had the same teleportation procedure where they would be teleported based on the team to a random place.
"It's okay too," he muttered as he recalled the individual objective. They would be forced to split up as well because of the individual objective. If there were too many people in the group, it would be slowing down their progress to achieve the individual objective.
"So, what's the plan?" Kang Jiayi asked the leader of the group.
"The plan is simple. We will complete all objectives to get the hidden reward," Tang Shaoyang replied to the old man and continued, "But first, we will look for a safe place for our temporary stay. We can't stay in the wild without a tent, so a cave may be the best option for us,"
Rain and cold were the enemies of their sleep if they decided to stay in the wild. Cave was the best choice for them, protecting them from the rain and unfeeling cold wind of the night.
"This place will be our rendezvous point!" He marked the biggest tree near them with an X mark using Li Na's short sword, "We will split into two teams! Me, Mengyao, Yu Shun, Luo Lan, Kang Xue, and her family are the first team. You, six girls, will be the second team,"
The second team was composed of six girls including Li Na, Fu Dandan, Dai Wenqian, Shi Niu, Zeng Dongmei, and Liang Suyin. One should not look at their gender, the girls had experienced the wild of the zombie horde and the wildlife with the monsters. They were veterans in their field, so Tang Shaoyang was easy to leave them in a group. Added with Li Na's summon, Moon, the group should be fine by themselves.
Although reluctant to separate from the main group, Li Na followed the order. The group then split into two different directions, and they started their hunt with a search.